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About Me

I am a stay at home mom of three great kids. I love the Lord and it is my strong desire to raise my kids to love God and know Him personally. I married my best friend 15 years ago and love him more every day. Some things I like to do are jogging, "antique" shopping, gardening, looking at decorating magazines, and sitting out back on my swing watching my kids play.
I am making my house a home a little at a time and want my home to be comfortable place for my family and friends to gather in. It is a fun challenge to do it on a tight budget. Beautiful and "cheap" things are a passion of mine!

Saturday, September 5, 2009

A surprise brick backsplash and some curtains!

Our kitchen BEFORE (one year ago)

Our kitchen AFTER

I changed out the flourescent light for a pretty crystal chandelier, painted the island and lower cabinets (Latte from Sherwin Williams), put chalkboard paint on the pantry, painted the walls an earthy green called "Lion" from Behr (you can't see the walls in this picture), did a brick veneer on the backsplash and changed out the outlet covers, and VIOLA! Here is the new kitchen. It took some time, but now it feels more like mine.

I have rec'd some comments about where/what kind of brick veneer this is, so I looked it up and here is the info:

It is Robinson Brick thin brick/thin veneer

color is Peppermill and the mortar color is Tobacco Brown

I got it from a brick yard in my area, but you can search "Robinson Brick". They have a website with pictures and you can search a store nearest you, or have it shipped to you.

It was not hard to install although we did not do it. Our contractor laid it just like tile on top of the sheetrock using a thinset. He used a tile saw to cut it. There are installation instructions on the website too. Hope that helps! You can email me with any other questions.

I was not expecting to get my brick backsplash so soon! I mentioned it in this post, and a few weeks later, the Lord provided me with one literally. My friend Elise over at Nest Sweet Nestreminded me that God gives us the "desires of our hearts" and He did just that. I was blown away that God even cares about those little things that mean so much to me! We had hail damage on our roof, so we got it replaced after approval from the insurance company. The roofing business is very competitive, so our roofer agreed to do the backsplash and some painting if we let him do the roof (apparently roofers make good money). So his labor for the extra work was part of the price of the roof. We just had to buy the supplies. What a deal, huh? God is good! I love how it turned out!

The inspiration for these curtains came from here. The sun is not shining today, so this picture is not the best, but here are my sunroom curtains that my talented friend Elise came over and helped me with. I lined them with burlap the first time, and did not like how it looked so I did red ticking the second time and it is perfect! I love how the ticking looks from outside too.

Here is closer, but poor quality picture. These curtains are just rectangles that are lined with a coordinating fabric, folded over the clipped with cafe rings. You can turn it over and use the other fabric for a different look. I just used upholstery tacks to hang them up. I just got this new sign too at one of my favorite shops. I know, summer is about over, but it has been calling my name for months. I love it so much, I might just leave it up all year!

This is a close up of my living room curtains. I debated between the gingham and the houdstooth for a long time. EVERY person I asked said go with gingham, but I decided on the houdstooth just because I loved it (and it was much cheaper). They ended up being too long so I folded them over then clipped them with cafe rings, an amateur seamstress' best tool!

They really warm up the room, don't you think? I did both panels for $37. Not bad huh?

12 comments:

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G...I so want brick on my backsplash now... Of course my hubby would wring my neck... Considering he just put in our current backsplash a couple years ago... I LOVE it Amy, and your curtains turned out AWESOME... Love your house!

Your kitchen is gorgeous. Can you please tell me what kind of brick veneer you used for your backsplash? I found your blog by searching for brick veneer. I am planning to brick my backsplach and can't decide what to go with (have looked at z brick). I have dark countertops similar to yours (tan brown granite). Any info would be so helpful. thanks!

Hey Amy! I'm new to this blogging stuff. I actually only signed up to respond and ask about your brick backsplash in your kitchen! I came across your blogg by doing a search for brick veneers and I'm so glad I found it! It is absolutely beautiful! I realize it was posted almost a year ago, but I have been wanting to do this to my kitchen for awhile now and just can't find what I'm looking for. The colors in your backsplash are the type of variation that would work well with my own kitchen colors. Would you mind sharing with me where you purchased it, what the make & color is, and was it difficult to do? Again, it looks great! You have a beautiful family and home!

Jill, at the time, the walls were painted "Lion" by Behr, but I have changed the color to "Wool Skein" by Sherwin Williams now. We had a flood in the kitchen so we had to get new wood floors and I went with a dark walnut wide plank floor. I love Wool Skein. It is a great neutral color.